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Monday, August 31, 2015

The US-Japan Research Institute (USJI) is a collaboration between Japanese industry and five major Japanese universities to better understand the policy environment in Washington as well as provide Japan-originated research to the Washington community.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

This week Washington is slowly come back to work. The President is in Alaska and the rest of Washington is being entertained by Donald Trump. When Congress returns on September 8th things will get serious. The APP newsletter, for members, will also return at that time.

MONITORING THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL. 8/31, 8:30-11:30am, Arlington, VA. Sponsor: The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA). Speakers: Joe DeTrani, President of INSA; Mark Lowenthal, President of the Intelligence and Security Academy.

As the clock ticked down to the 70th anniversary of the end of the Asia Pacific War, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faced a dilemma. His right-wing supporters were pushing him to produce a commemorative statement that would move away from the apologetic approach of his predecessors and ‘restore Japan’s pride’. Moderates, Asian neighbours and (most importantly) the US government were pushing him to uphold the earlier apologies issued by former prime ministers Tomiichi Murayama and Junichiro Koizumi. Most of the media anticipation centred around the wording of the forthcoming Abe statement. Would it, like the Murayama Statement of 1995 and the Koizumi Statement of 2005, include the words ‘apology’ (owabi) and aggression (shinryaku)?

Abe’s response to this dilemma was clever. First, he established a committee of hand-picked ‘experts’ to provide a report locating Japan’s wartime past in the broad sweep of 20th-century history. Then, drawing heavily on their report, he produced a statement that was more than twice the length of those issued by his predecessors. His statement, to the relief of many observers, did use the words ‘apology’ and ‘aggression’. In fact, it is almost overladen with all the right words: ‘we must learn from the lessons of history’; ‘our country inflict immeasurable damage and suffering’; ‘deep repentance’; ‘deep remorse and heartfelt apology’; ‘we will engrave in our hearts the past’.

But, focusing on the vocabulary, some observers failed to notice that Abe had embedded these words in a narrative of Japanese history that was entirely different from the one that underpinned previous prime ministerial statements. That is why his statement is so much longer than theirs. So which past is the Abe statement engraving in the hearts of Japanese citizens?

The story presented in Abe’s statement goes like this. Western colonial expansionism forced Japan to modernise, which it did with remarkable success. Japan’s victory in the Russo–Japanese War gave hope to the colonised peoples of the world. After World War I, there was a move to create a peaceful world order. Japan actively participated, but following the Great Depression, the Western powers created economic blocs based on their colonial empires. This dealt a ‘major blow’ to Japan. Forced into a corner, Japan ‘attempted to overcome its diplomatic and economic deadlock through the use of force’. The result was the 1931 Manchurian Incident, Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations, and everything that followed. ‘Japan took the wrong course and advanced along the road to war’.

The narrative of war that Abe presents leads naturally to the lessons that he derives from history. Nations should avoid the use of force to break ‘deadlock’. They should promote free trade so that economic blocs will never again become a cause of war. And they should avoid challenging the international order.

The problem with Abe’s new narrative is that it is historically wrong. This is perhaps not surprising, since the committee of experts on whom he relied included only four historians in its 16 members. And its report, running to some 31 pages, contains less than a page about the causes and events of the Asia Pacific War.

In effect, the Abe narrative of history looks like an exam script where the student has accidentally misread the question. He has answered the question about the reasons for Japan’s invasion of Manchuria with an answer that should go with the question about the reasons for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

There is widespread consensus that the immediate cause for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was the stranglehold on Japan created by imperial protectionism and economic blockade by the Western powers. But there is equal consensus that the reasons for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and for the outbreak of full-scale war in China in 1937, were different and much more complex.

Key factors at work in 1931 were the troubled relationship between the Japanese military and the civilian government; Japan’s desire for resources, transport routes and living space; rising nationalism in an economically and socially troubled Japan; and corruption and instability in Northeastern China. By the time Japan launched its full scale invasion of China in 1937, global protectionism was becoming a larger issue. But even then, other issues like Japan’s desire to protect its massive investments in China from the rising forces of Chinese nationalism were paramount.

Economic historians note that the Japanese empire was the first to take serious steps towards imperial protectionism. The slide into global protectionism had barely started at the time of the Manchurian Incident. Britain did not create its imperial preference system until 1932. The economic blockade that strangled the Japanese economy in 1940–41 was the response to Japan’s invasion of China, not its cause.

This is not academic quibbling. These things really matter, and vividly illustrate why historical knowledge is vital to any understanding of contemporary international affairs.

The Abe narrative of history fails to address the causes and nature of Japan’s colonisation of Taiwan (in 1895) and Korea (in 1910), and ignores the large presence of Japanese troops in China long before 1931. It says to China: ‘Sorry we invaded you, but those other guys painted us into a corner’. It offers an untenable explanation for Japan’s actions, and blurs the distinction between aggressive and defensive behaviour. Western media commentators who haven’t studied Japanese history may not pick up these flaws in the narrative, but Chinese and South Korean observers (who have their own, sometimes profoundly problematic, versions of this history) will instantly see them and rightly object.

Engraving a factually flawed story of the past in people’s hearts is not going to solve East Asia’s problems, and risks making them worse. Worse still, the Abe statement is generating deeply divergent responses in the countries where East Asian history is not widely taught (most notably the United States) and those where it is (South Korea, China and Japan itself), thus creating even deeper divisions in our already too divided world.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II probably satisfies no constituency — not his right wing base, not the political opposition, not the Chinese nor the Koreans. If the US government has any qualms about it, it is keeping them to itself.

But Abe did invoke the four key words of the Murayama Statement— aggression, colonialism, apology, remorse — even if not in first person declaratory sentences. And he did not say anything so outrageous as to make an angry response unavoidable. In this sense Abe dodged a bullet.

If China and South Korea want to improve relations with Japan, the statement gives them enough to work with — it shows appreciation to the Chinese for the magnanimity they showed to Japanese civilians caught up in the war in China, and sympathy for the Chinese victims of the war. It refers to the ill treatment of women — in lukewarm language to be sure, but better than saying nothing. The influence of the prime minister’s advisory panel led by Professor Shinichi Kitaoka is evident throughout the statement, including its admission that Japan fought a wrong war and that political parties were too weak to control the military.

Abe did try to make the case that Japan went down the road it did because the Great Depression and the trade policies of the western countries were strangling the Japanese economy. This implies that in the end going to war was a defensive action.

But at least he didn’t say what the right wing believes and what was best stated by the previous emperor Hirohito in his radio address accepting the surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration: ‘we cannot [help] but express the deepest sense of regret to our allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently cooperated with the Empire toward the emancipation of East Asia’.

Abe referenced the Russo–Japanese war as an inspiration for anti-colonial movements from Asia to Africa, which is entirely true. But he did not pay homage to the right-wing view that Japan’s Greater East Asia War had anything to do with liberating Asian countries from western colonialism. Unfortunately and worryingly, in contrast to the expressions of compassion for Chinese victims of the war, he had virtually nothing to say about the Korean victims of harsh Japanese colonial rule.

It is disappointing that he did not say something about what needs to be done now so that future generations are not ‘predestined’ to engage in unending apologies as he put it. The only way to end demands for apology is for the current generation to apologise in so convincing a manner that attacks on Japan’s lack of repentance lose all credibility.

This is not likely to happen as right-wing self-defined defenders of Japanese national pride can be counted on to find a way to provide ammunition for Chinese and Koreans to continue to demand apologies. He also could have used a better writer or a more skilled editor. He could have said what he said in half as many words and have had more of an impact that way. The statement is painfully repetitive and tedious.

The statement in a certain sense reflects the strength of Japan’s democracy. Abe would not have issued this statement if he were unafraid of how the public and the media would react had he given one more in line with the views of the Liberal Democratic Party’s right wing — views he himself has expressed repeatedly in the past. This statement probably won’t help his poll numbers but it is unlikely to hurt them either. It is a wash. And that is probably true for its impact on relations with China and South Korea as well.

PM12:01 Ruling Party Liaison Conference12:29 Conference ends12:39 Meet with Minister in charge of TPP Amari Akira, Deputy Chief Negotiator of Government Headquarters for TPP Oe Hiroshi, Councilor of Cabinet Secretariat Shibuya Kazuhisa. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide also attends1:14 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Oe and Mr. Shibuya2:34 Meet with new Eastern Army Commander of the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force Moriyama Naotada, former Eastern Army Commander of the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force Isobe, new Commander in Chief of the Self Defense Fleet Shigeoka Yasuhiro and former Commander in Chief of the Self Defense Fleet Funada Eiichi, and colleagues2:42 End meeting with Mr. Moriyama, Mr. Isobe, Mr. Shigeoka and Mr. Funada2:53 Receive courtesy call from the 54th group of junior reporters from Okinawa and the 32nd group of junior reporters from Hakodate3:17 Courtesy call ends3:40 Meet with State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takagi Yosuke4:18 End meeting with Mr. Takagi4:46 Depart from office4:50 Arrive at LDP Party Headquarters5:02 LDP officers meeting5:14 Meeting ends5:19 LDP Election Strategy Headquarters meeting5:38 Meeting ends5:41 Depart from LDP Party Headquarters5:45 Arrive at office6:35 Welcome Prime Minister of the Italian Republic Matteo Renzi. Take commemorative photos6:37 attend ceremony by the guard of honor6:44 ceremony ends6:46 Attend Japan-Italy Summit Meeting with Mr. Renzi7:29 Meeting ends7:32 Joint Press Release7:51 Joint Press Release ends7:52 Depart from office7:53 Arrive at official residence7:55 Banquet hosted by Prime Minister Abe and his wife9:22 Banquet ends9:27 Give a send-off to Mr. Renzi and his wife9:28 Send-off ends

Tuesday, August 4, 2015AM12:00 At official residence (no visitors)07:08 Depart from official residence07:09 Arrive at office07:17 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige08:27 End meeting with Mr. Seko08:30 Cabinet Meeting08:36 Meeting ends08:40 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige08:47 End meeting with Mr. Seko08:53 Depart from office08:55 Arrive at Diet08:57 At Upper House Committee Room No. 108:58 Meet with Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen08:59 End meeting with Mr. Nakatani09:01 Meeting of Special Committee of the House of Councillors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community opens11:53 Meeting recesses 11:54 Exit Upper House Committee Room No.111:56 Depart from Diet11:58 Arrive at office

PM12:43 Meet with Mayor of Shimonoseki City (Yamaguchi Prefecture) Nakao Tomoaki and colleagues12:53 End meeting with Mr. Nakao12:54 Depart from office12:56 Arrive at Diet12:58 At Upper House Committee Room No. 101:00 Meeting of Special Committee of the House of Councillor on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community recommences05:22 Meeting adjourns05:23 Exit Upper House Committee Room No. 105:24 Depart from Diet05:26 Arrive at office05:53 Receive courtesy call from OBON 2015. Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Shiozaki Yasuhisa also attends06:11 Courtesy call ends06:12 Minister of Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio and MOFA’s Director-General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Ihara Junichi enter06:31 Mr. Ihara leaves06:44 Mr. Kishida leaves06:53 Depart from office07:03 Arrive at Chinese restaurant Turandot Garyukyo at Akasaka. Dinner with secretaries.08:50 Depart from restaurant09:06 Arrive at private residence

Wednesday, August 5, 2015AM12:00 At private residence (no visitors)08:01 Depart from private residence08:13 Arrive at office08:30 Phone conference with Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige, Director of National Security Council Yachi Shotaro and Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru also attend09:00 End phone conference with Mr. Biden09:12 Meet with Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Kimura Taro09:16 End meeting with Mr. Kimura09:17 Meet with LDP Secretary-General Tanigaki Sadakazu09:51 End meeting with Mr. Tanigaki10:01 Meet with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro10:42 End meeting with Mr. Nikai10:43 Meet with Governor of Mie Prefecture Suzuki Eikei10:59 End meeting with Mr. Suzuki11:00 Meet with new Superintendent General of Metropolitan Police Takahashi Kiyotaka and former Superintendent General of Metropolitan Police Takatsuna Naoyoshi11:05 End meeting with Mr. Takahashi and Mr. Takatsuna10:06 Meet with new Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Tsuchiya Sadayuki, former Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yamanaka Shinichi and Administrative Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Todani Kazuo10:10 End meeting with Mr. Tsuchiya, Mr. Yamanaka and Mr. Todani11:13 Director of National Security Council Yachi Shotaro, Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru and Ministry of Defense’s Director of Defense Intelligence Headquarters Miyakawa Tadashi enter11:22 Mr. Yachi and Mr. Miyakawa leave11:38 Mr. Kitamura leave11:42 Meet with Special Advisor to President of LDP Hagiuda Koichi and LDP Lower House member Miyagoshi Mitsuhiro and colleagues11:56 End meeting with Mr. Hagiuda and Mr. Miyagoshi

PM01:12 Meet with LDP’s Chairman of Party Organization and Campaign Headquarters Tanaka Kazunori, and LDP’s Director of Local Organization and Local Assembly Members Division Akiba Kenya, and colleagues01:44 End meeting with Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Akiba01:34 Meet with LDP Lower House member Kawai Katsuyuki01:56 End meeting with Mr. Kawai03:05 Record message for Yahoo’s project on 70th anniversary of end of WWII03:14 End recording03:48 Receive courtesy call from Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom John Bercow04:18 Courtesy call ends04:41 Depart from office05:11 Arrive at Haneda Airport05:45 Depart from Haneda Airport by Flight 683, All Nippon Airways06:44 Arrive at Hiroshima Airport06:55 Depart from Hiroshima Airport07:47 Arrive at Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima in Hiroshima City07:58 Dinner with secretaries and office staff in hotel09:02 Dinner ends

PM01:04 Arrive at Haneda Airport01:19 Depart from Haneda Airport01:45 Arrive at office01:57 Meet with LDP Vice-President Komura Masahiko02:33 End meeting with Mr. Komura02:55 Meet with Chairperson of LDP Policy Research Council Inada Tomomi03:31 End meeting with Ms. Inada03:41 Receive National Personnel Authority (NPA) Recommendation from President of the NPA Ichimiya Nahomi. Minister in charge of Civil Service Reform Arimura Haruko, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide and Director-General for Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs Kato Katsunobu also attend03:48 End meeting with Ms. Ichimiya04:31 Receive Report of the Advisory Panel on the History of the 20th Century and on Japan’s Role and the World Order in the 21st Century from Chairman of the Advisory Panel Nishimuro Taizo04:39 Finish reception04:48 Meet with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ohta Akihiro05:56 End meeting with Mr. Ohta05:57 Meet with Minister in charge of TPP Amari Akira06:15 End meeting with Mr. Amari06:16 Meet with Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae06:53 End meeting with Ms. Takaichi07:02 Depart from office07:09 Arrive at hotel Andaz Tokyo in Toranomon. Dinner with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru, Vice-Minister of Finance Tanaka Kazuho and MOFA’s Director-General of European Affairs Bureau Hayashi Hajime at restaurant Andaz Tavern inside hotel.09:06 Depart from hotel09:23 Arrive at private residence

PM12:06 Leave Prime Minister’s Room12:07 Enter Chamber of the House of Representatives12:08 Speak with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Aso Taro, Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro 12:09 Finish speaking with Mr. Aso and Mr. Nikai12:10 Speak with Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Yamaguchi Shunichi12:11 Finish speaking with Mr. Yamaguchi12:12 Lower House Plenary Session opens12:17 Lower House Plenary Session adjourns12:18 Leave Chamber of the House of Representatives. Depart from Diet12:20 Arrive office12:54 Depart from office12:55 Arrive at Diet12:57 Enter Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors01:00 The meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens05:16 Meeting adjourns05:17 Leave Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors05:19 Depart from Diet05:21 Arrive at office05:38 Receive a proposal from the Special Mission Committee for the Restoration of the Honor and Credibility of Japan of LDP05:57 Finish receiving the proposal06:00 Meeting with Chairman of LDP General Council Nikai Toshihiro06:17 End meeting with Mr. Nikai06:26 Depart from office06:34 Arrive at restaurant Akasaka Tsutsui in Akasaka, Tokyo. Dinner meeting with Senior Vice-Minister for Cabinet Office Nishimura Yasutoshi, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Isozaki Yosuke, [Abe aide draws flak over comments on security bills that they do not have to be consistent with the Constitution] LDP Lower House member Akiba Kenya, and colleagues08:32 Depart from restaurant09:00 Arrive at private residence

Wednesday, July 29, 2015AM12:00 At private residence (no visitors)07:16 Depart from private residence07:28 Arrive at official residence07:36 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige08:50 End meeting with Mr. Seko08:54 Depart from office08:55 Arrive at Diet08:57 Enter Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors08:58 Speak with Minister for Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio, Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen08:59 Finish speaking with Mr. Kishida and Mr. Nakatani09:00 Attend a meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community11:52 The Special Committee recesses11:53 Leave Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors11:55 Depart from Diet11:56 Arrive at official residence

PM12:54 Depart from office12:56 Arrive at Diet12:58 Enter Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors01:00 The meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens05:15 Meeting adjourns05:16 Leave Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors05:18 Depart from Diet05:20 Arrive at official residence05:36 Meeting with Director of Cabinet Intelligence Kitamura Shigeru05:43 End meeting with Mr. Kitamura05:45 Meet with Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Takaichi Sanae06:06 End meeting with Ms. Takaichi06:29 Depart from office06:30 Arrive at official residence

Thursday, July 30, 2015AM12:00 At official residence (no visitors)07:16 Depart from official residence07:17 Arrive at office07:27 Meet with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seko Hiroshige08:44 End meeting with Mr. Seko08:54 Depart from office08:55 Arrive at Diet08:57 Enter Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors09:01 Attend a meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community11:15 The Special Committee recesses11:18 Speak with Minister of Defense Nakatani Gen11:19 Finishing speak with Mr. Nakatani11:26 The meeting of the Special Committee of the House of Councilors on the Legislation for Peace and Security of Japan and the International Community reopens11:48 The Special Committee recesses11:51 Leave Committee Room No.1 of the House of Councilors. Depart from Diet11:52 Arrive at office

THE IRAN DEAL: KEY ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES. 8/13, 2:00-3:00pm. Sponsor: Center for Strategic and International Studies. Speakers: Dr. Colin Kahl, Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Adviser to the Vice President; Jon Wolfsthal, Senior Director for Arms Control and Non-proliferation, National Security Council; Chris Backemeyer, Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, U.S. Department of State; Moderated by: Dr. Anthony H. Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

THE LAST TEAR. 8/15, 1:00- 4:00pm. Sponsor: US-Korea Institute at SAIS and Fading Away LLC. A documentary film by Christopher H.K. Lee about Korea's Comfort Women. The screening will be followed by Q&A with the director and a reception.This event is free and open to the public. Please RESERVE HERE.

EXAMINING ARCTIC OPPORTUNITIES AND CAPABILITIES: DOES THE U.S. HAVE THE INFRASTRUCTURE, SHIPS, AND EQUIPMENT REQUIRED? 8/18, 1:30-3:30pm. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: Keynote Remarks by Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., USCG (Ret.) Special Representative for the Arctic, U.S. Department of State; H.E. Geir Haarde, Ambassador of Iceland to the United States and former Prime Minister; Isaac Edwards, Senior Counsel for Chairman Murkowski, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; Luke Coffey, Margaret Thatcher Fellow, Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, Heritage Foundation.

TAIWAN'S CHINA TANGLE. 8/20, 2:30-4:00pm, Sponsor: Stimson Center. Speaker: Dr. Tse-Kang Leng, Visiting Fellow with the Stimson Center's East Asia Program; Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science of Academia Sinica (IPSAS) in Taiwan and Professor of Political Science at National Chengchi University.

PM
12:02 Attend the Meeting of the Government and Ruling Parties on the FY2016 Guidelines for Budget Requests
12:10 Meeting ends
01:26 Meeting TPP Minister Amari Akira, Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minagawa Yoshitsugu, Chief Domestic Coordination of the Governmental Headquarter for TPP Sasaki Toyonari, and Deputy Chief Negotiator for TPP Oe Hiroshi
02:06 End meeting with Mr. Amari, Mr. Minagawa, Mr. Sasaki, and Mr. Oe
02:07 Meeting of National Security Council. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Miyazawa Yoichi also attends
02:41 Meeting ends
02:42 Meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aso Taro
02:52 End meeting with Mr. Aso
02:53 Meet with Minister in Charge of Tokyo 2020 Olympics Endo Toshiaki and Cabinet Secretariat Hirata Takeo
03:10 End meeting with Mr. Endo and Mr. Hirata
03:11 Meet with Eto Taku, Head of a Group for Protecting national interests in TPP, consisting of LDP Diet members who have reservations for TPP negotiation, and colleagues
03:28 End meeting with Mr. Eto and colleagues
03:35 Depart from office
03:42 Arrive at Nippon Broadcasting in Yurakucho, Tokyo
04:00 Appear on radio program
04:32 Radio program ends
04:34 Depart from Nippon Broadcasting
04:40 Arrive at office
05:23 Receive a courtesy call from a group of junior high school students who are third and fourth generation descendants of former inhabitants of the Northern Territories of Japan
05:32 Courtesy call ends
05:42 Attend the 14th meeting in 2015 of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy
06:09 Meeting ends
06:10 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)’s Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau Hiramatsu Kenji
06:30 End meeting with Mr. Saiki and Mr. Hiramatsu
06:31 Depart from office
06:32 Arrive at Prime Minister’s official residence

Friday, July 24, 2015

AM
12:00 At official residence (no visitors)
08:45 Depart from official residence
08:46 Arrive at office
08:52 Attend the first meeting of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games
09:10 Meeting ends
09:16 Cabinet meeting
09:37 Meeting ends
09:38 Meet with former Secretary General of LDP Takebe Tsutomu
10:01 End meeting with Takebe Tsutomu
10:02 Receive a request from LDP on national resilience and related matters
10:21 Receiving ceremony ends
10:27 Meet with President of Japan-China Economic Association Muneoka Shoji and former President of Japan-China Economic Association Cho Fujio
10:57 End meeting with Mr. Muneoka and Mr. Cho
10:58 Meet with Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Saiki Akitaka and Director-General of Intelligence and Analysis Service Oka Hiroshi
11:39 End meeting with Mr. Saiki and Mr. Oka
11:40 Meet with CEO of African Development Bank Donald Kaberuka
11:51 End meeting with Mr. Kaberuka

What does it mean to fight to the end? In April 1942, it meant fighting until my tank battalion and I were forced to surrender at the Battle of Bataan. For everything else that followed I only fought to survive: the Bataan Death March, brutal transport aboard a “hell ship” to Japan and slave labor in a Mitsui coal mine.

For my imperial Japanese enemy, in contrast, to fight to the end meant to give his life in a presumably noble and glorious fashion. He would die for the emperor—who ruled by divine right—confident that he would be enshrined with his ancestors for his efforts in defense of a mythic civilization. There could be no surrender and no negotiated peace. Death itself was beautiful, and death alone was honorable.

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The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, upended this belief. The bombs showed the Japanese the devastating and ultimately inglorious outcome of their fight. The bombs offered no true opportunity for confrontation and no chance of death with honor; they promised only obliteration.

Like its erstwhile ally Nazi Germany, Japan was fighting an ideological war. A superior race was destined to guide those less graced. Death for the empire earned a blessed afterlife in their emperor-god’s eternal favor. For a loyal subject, surrender was a betrayal of everything that sustained the empire’s system of patriotic values. The only option in the face of certain battlefield defeat was to fight to the death.

Japan tried to keep fighting long after any chance of victory was gone. On the mainland, women, children and the elderly were armed with sharpened bamboo sticks. Beginning in May 1945, schools for disabled children were ordered to organize military units and women ordered to serve in volunteer combat units. Young men were recruited by the hundreds for kamikaze missions aboard wooden gliders or small boats.

The country’s infamous biological-weapons research program was hard at work concocting flea-borne plague agents to float by submarine and balloon towards populated American shores. By late-spring 1945, some incendiary explosives called fugo had already landed on the West Coast.

On Okinawa during the 82-day battle from early April to mid-June 1945, the Japanese military instructed civilians to fight and die rather than surrender to the advancing U.S. forces. Civilian households, comprised almost entirely of women and children, were given grenades and encouraged to destroy themselves along with any Americans they might encounter. Many did.

In late spring 1945, I saw that the cruelty with which we prisoners of war were treated was only increasing. Our guards told us that Japanese units facing attack had received orders to kill all military and civilian POWs in their custody. They were to unburden themselves to focus on the fight. The executions were to begin Aug. 17.

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No Japanese soldier or civilian was preparing to surrender that August.

Early* on the morning of Aug. 9, from the POW camp where I was held some 30 miles across a bay, I saw the sky over Nagasaki change. It glowed red and the air turned warm against my skin.

Until then, red was the color of my subjugation. My Japanese guards were certain that red had a uniquely Japanese meaning. It wasn’t just the central color of their flag, it was viewed as emotionally representative of their pure spirit and sincerity. The red sky over Nagasaki ended those illusions.
At that moment, I made a bet with a friend that soon we would all be set free. I was right.

Japan’s surrender saved us. The dropping of the bombs, as Emperor Hirohito himself acknowledged, was the only thing that made that surrender possible. As he explained to his subjects, “Should we continue to fight, it would only result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation.” The bombs’ indiscriminate, total devastation, as no battle or bombing before it, showed the consequences of trying to fight to the end. The bombings destroyed hope and glory, past and future.

It’s also true that the bombings were acts of tragic and unprecedented violence. The bomb—this “cruel weapon,” as the stunned emperor recorded in his surrender message on Aug. 15—ruined two cities, brought suffering and death to many tens of thousands of people and drastically altered landscapes and ecologies. Its use also transformed the nature of modern warfare and erased the last faint lines separating civilian and military, illegitimate and legitimate targets.

We POWs—men who were starved and tortured, who suffocated in the holds of hell ships, who were beaten at will, who died for lack of medical care and who saw friends worked to death—have no doubt that the atomic bombs ended the war. The bombs took away all the justifications for Japan to continue to fight.

The visual obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that Japan could soon cease to exist. Or as the emperor concluded, “the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.” There would be no glorious end.

Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent, a member of our greatest generation from Santa Maria, California, James T. Murphy . On Sunday, July 19th, 2015, at the age of 94, Mr. Murphy had the historic honor of being offered the first Japanese corporate apology for his forced labor as an American prisoner of war (POW) in Japan during World War II.

During World War II, Mitsubishi Mining Company Ltd. used the labor of over 900 Americans in four of its coal and copper mines on mainland Japan. Mr. Murphy, one of the last surviving American former POWs to have worked as a slave laborer in one of these mines, graciously accepted an apology from the Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, the successor of Mitsubishi Mining Company, on behalf of his fellow veterans.

A Texas native, Mr. Murphy fought in the Philippines with the U.S. Army Air Corps beginning with the bombing of Nichols Field on December 8, 1941 until surrender in Bataan on April 9, 1942. He endured the Bataan Death March and a "Hell ship'' to Japan. During the war, Imperial Japan assigned over 13,000 Americans to work in corporate mines, factories, and docks to support the war effort. Mr. Murphy was assigned to POW Camp Sendai #6-B and forced to mine copper at Mitsubishi's Osarizawa mine near the town of Hanawa in Sendai, Japan.

After liberation, he continued to serve with the then-new U.S. Air Force and retired in 1962 after a 23-year career. Captain Murphy later moved to my district in California, working as a civilian contractor with Lockheed Missile & Space Company at Vandenberg Air Force Base and finally retiring in 1986 to Santa Maria.

On July 19th 2015 Mr. Hikaru Kimura, a Senior Corporate Executive of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Senior General Manager of Global Business Management at the Paint Finishing System Division of Taikisha Ltd, delivered to him the official apology at a ceremony held at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Mr. Murphy responded, ``it is a glorious day.'' He continued, ``For 70 years, we wanted such action. Today we have it so I'm elated over that, and I hope this historical occasion just spreads out through the world and helps mankind.''

And it is with grateful recognition for all our veterans swept up in the Pacific battles of the first months of World War II, many of whom became POWs of Imperial Japan, that I insert both Mitsubishi Materials' historic apology statement and Captain Murphy's acceptance.

Remembering the stories of these POWs both in Japan and in the United States is important for history, for the U.S.-Japan relationship, and for all those who care about peace.

STATEMENT OF JAMES T. MURPHY , In RESPONSE TO MITSUBISHI APOLOGY TO WWII POWS, Delivered at the Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center--Los Angeles, CA, July 19, 2015

This is a great day to be here at the Museum of Tolerance because at this place and at this time, history will truly be made.

We have just heard Mitsubishi's [Materials Corporation] representative, Mr. [Hikaru] Kimura, present a stirring, heartfelt, warm and sincere apology to former U.S. Prisoners of War who were forced to work for Mitsubishi Mining during World War II.

His apology meets all the criteria necessary to satisfy the elements of an acceptable apology. It admits to wrongdoing, it makes sincere statements showing a deep remorse for the wrongdoing and it assures that the wrongdoing will not recur.

As a former Prisoner of War of the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces who was forced to work at the Mitsubishi [Osarizawa] copper mine near Hanawa, Japan during part of 1944 and part of 1945 and being one of the few surviving workers of that time, I find it to be my duty and responsibility to accept Mr. Kimura's apology!

Hopefully, the acceptance of this sincere apology will bring some closure and relief to the age-old problems confronting the surviving former Prisoners of War and to their family members.

Additionally, even though the Japanese people and the American people have a long-standing friendly relationship, the action that we are taking today will further enhance, expand and assure an enduring trust and friendship benefitting both nations.

Furthermore, I join others in this group who foster the idea of encouraging the dozens of other Japanese companies who used forced labor by the Allied Prisoners of War to offset their workforce shortage to follow Mitsubishi Materials' progressive leadership.

Solving this long overdue problem would permit the companies and their former laborers to look forward to a better future rather than continue to look backward to their differences.

Such actions would have positive results for both of our nations by strengthening our trust, confidence and friendship. Perhaps other nations with similar problems will follow our example here today with similar actions.

Such actions would result in the betterment to all mankind.

Mr. Kimura, we thank you and the other members of your team for your hard work and long hours spent formulating and presenting Mitsubishi Materials' apology.

Statement by Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Senior Executive Officer Hikaru Kimura in the Meeting With a Former American POW and Families of Former POWs

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, speaking on behalf of Mitsubishi Materials, thank you very much for this opportunity to meet with you today at the Museum of Tolerance.

Mitsubishi Mining Company Limited, the predecessor of Mitsubishi Materials, was engaged in coal and metal mining during World War II. As the war intensified, prisoners of war were placed in a wide range of industries to offset labor shortages. As part of this, close to 900 American POWs were allocated to four mines operated by Mitsubishi Mining in Japan.

I joined Mitsubishi Materials as a postwar baby-boomer and have worked in the company for 34 years. I have read the memoirs of Mr. James Murphy , who is present here at this ceremony, and those of other former POWs, as well as records of court trials. Through these accounts, I have learned about the terrible pain that POWs experienced in the mines of Mitsubishi Mining.

The POWs, many of whom were suffering from disease and injury, were subjected to hard labor, including during freezing winters, working without sufficient food, water, medical treatment or sanitation. When we think of their harsh lives in the mines, we cannot help feeling deep remorse.

I would like to express our deepest sense of ethical responsibility for the tragic experiences of all U.S. POWs, including Mr. James Murphy, who were forced to work under harsh conditions in the mines of the former Mitsubishi Mining.

On behalf of Mitsubishi Materials. I offer our sincerest apology.

I also extend our deepest condolence to their fellow U.S. POWs who worked alongside them but have since passed away.

To the bereaved families who are present at this ceremony, I also offer our most remorseful apology.

This cannot happen again, and of course, Mitsubishi Materials intends to never let this happen again.

We now have a clear corporate mission of working for the benefit of all people, all societies and indeed the entire globe. Respecting the basic human rights of all people is a core principle of Mitsubishi Materials, and we will continue to strongly adhere to this principle. Our management team wishes for the health and happiness of our employees every day, and we ask that all of them work not only diligently, but also with a sense of ethics.

Mitsubishi Materials supplies general materials that enrich people's lives, from cement to cellphone components and auto parts, all of which are closely related to people's lives. We also place a strong emphasis on recycling for more sustainable societies, such as recovering valuable metals from used electrical appliances and other scrapped materials.

Here in the United States, we have plants for cement and ready-mixed concrete, and a sales headquarters for our advanced materials and tools business, all in California, as well as a polysilicon plant in Alabama.

We believe that our company provides fulfilling jobs for local employees and contributes to host communities through its business.

The American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Museum in Wellsburg, West Virginia archives extensive records and memorabilia of POWs. These records and memorabilia will be handed down to future generations for educational purposes.

I will visit the museum the day after tomorrow to view the exhibits and visualize how POWs were forced to work under harsh conditions. For now, however, I am pleased to announce that Mitsubishi Materials has donated 50,000 US dollars to the museum to support its activities.

Finally, I sincerely thank Ms. Kinue Tokudome and the members of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Memorial Society for creating this opportunity to meet with you today.

I also express my sincere thanks to Rabbi Abraham Cooper for offering the Museum of Tolerance as a venue for the ceremony. And I express my deep gratitude to all others involved in arranging this gathering.

I would also like to thank the family members of a non-U.S. POW [Mr. Stanley Gibson from Scotland, whose father also was a slave laborer in the Mitsubishi Osarizawa mine] who have come from very far away to attend this ceremony.

I truly hope that this gathering marks the starting point of a new relationship between former POWs and Mitsubishi Materials. Thank you very much.

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"The language was extremely difficult," said Tomie Kondo, 92, who listened to the 1945 broadcast in a monitoring room at public broadcaster NHK, where she worked as a newscaster. "It's well written if you read it, but I'm afraid not many people understood what he said."

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"Poor reception and sound quality of the radio made it even worse," she said. "I heard some people even thought they were supposed to fight even more. I think the speech would be incomprehensible to young people today."

Every Japanese knows a part of the speech where Hirohito refers to his resolve for peace by "enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable," a phrase repeatedly used in news and dramas about the war.

When people heard that part 70 years ago, they understood the situation, Kondo says. But the rest is little known, largely because the text Hirohito read was deliberately written in arcane language making him sound authoritative and convincing as he sought people's understanding about Japan's surrender.

Amid growing concern among many Japanese over nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Japan's military role, the current Emperor Akihito is increasingly seen as liberal and pacifist, and the effort by his father, Hirohito, to end the war has captured national attention.

Speaking in unique intonation that drops at the end of sentences, Hirohito opens his 1945 address with Japan's decision to accept the condition of surrender. He also expresses "the deepest sense of regret" to Asian countries that cooperated with Japan to gain "emancipation" from Western colonization.

Hirohito also laments devastation caused by "a new and most cruel bomb" dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and asks everyone to stay calm while helping to reconstruct the country.

Its significance is that Hirohito, who at the time was considered a living deity, made the address, said Takahisa Furukawa, a historian at Nihon University in Tokyo.

"What's most important is the emperor reached out to the people to tell them that they had to surrender and end the war," he said. "The speech is a reminder of what it took to end the wrong war."

On the eve of the announcement, Hirohito met with top government officials to approve Japan's surrender inside a bunker dug at the palace compound.

Amid fear of violent protest by army officials refusing to end the war, the recording of Hirohito's announcement was made secretly. NHK technicians were quietly called in for the recording. At almost midnight, Hirohito appeared in his formal military uniform, and read the statement into the microphone, twice.

A group of young army officers stormed into the palace in a failed attempt to steal the records and block the surrender speech, but palace officials desperately protected the records, which were safely delivered to NHK for radio transmission the next day.

The drama of the last two days of the war leading to Hirohito's radio address was made into a film, "Japan's Longest Day," in 1967, and its remake will hit Japanese theaters on Aug. 8.

Imperial Surrender Broadcast

by Emperor Hirohito of Japan

At noon on August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan delivered the following over the radio. Not only did this speech signify the end of World War II, but it meant the end of the Emperor’s status as a deity. This was the first time in history the people of Japan had ever heard their Emperor’s voice. Japanese text here.

To our good and loyal subjects: After pondering deeply on the general trend of the world and the actual conditions pertaining to our Empire today, we have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure. We have ordered our government to inform the government of the United States, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union that our Empire accepts the provisions of their joint declaration (the Potsdam declaration).

To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations, as well as for the security and well-being of our subjects, is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by out Imperial ancestors and which lies close to our heart. Indeed, we declared war on America and Britain out of our sincere desire to ensure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia, it being far from our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement. But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Although the best has been done by everyone—the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of our servants of the state, and the devoted service of our hundred million people—the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interests.

The enemy, moreover, has begun to employ a new most cruel bomb, the power which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would only result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation . . . but would lead also to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are we to save millions of our subjects, or ourselves, to atone before the hallowed spirits of our Imperial ancestors? This is the reason we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the joint declaration of the Powers.

We cannot but express the deepest sense of regret to our allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently cooperated with the Empire toward the emancipation of East Asia. The thought of those officers and men who have fallen on the field of battle, of those who have died at their posts of duty, or those who have met with untimely death, and of their bereaved families, pains our heart night and day. The welfare of the wounded and war victims and of those who have lost their homes and livelihood are objects of our profound solicitude. The hardships and sufferings to which our nation is to be subjected hereafter will certainly be great.

We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all our subjects. However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that we come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable. Having been able to save and maintain the structure of the Imperial State, we are always with you, our good and loyal subjects, relying upon your sincerity and integrity. Beware most strictly least any out burst of emotion, which may engender needless complications, or any fraternal contention and strife, which may create confusion, lead you astray and cause you to lose confidence of the world.

Let the entire nation continue as one family from generation to generation, ever firm in its faith in the imperishability of its divine land, and mindful of its heavy burden of responsibilities and the long road before it. Devote your united strength to construction for the future. Cultivate ways of rectitude, further nobility of spirit, and work with resolution, so that you may enhance the innate glory of the Imperial State and keep pace with the progress of the world.

About Us

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